


A New Customer

by a_very_smol_frog



Series: Magic in the Mundane [3]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Chance Meetings, Falling In Love, First Meetings, Fluff, M/M, human!daichi, witch!suga
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:48:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27093784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_very_smol_frog/pseuds/a_very_smol_frog
Summary: Suga has a feeling that Daichi is going to end up being much more than a regular customer.
Relationships: Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi
Series: Magic in the Mundane [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1967257
Comments: 12
Kudos: 71





	A New Customer

**Author's Note:**

> Some cute DaiSuga meeting for the first time! I might do another one shot for them where Daichi takes Suga out into the human world, so please comment if that would be something you're interested in!

Suga leaned against the worn wooden countertops, running a dingy white cloth against the same foot of space again and again, like he had been doing for the past 10 minutes. It was a dreary Tuesday afternoon and not a single customer had wandered through the door all day. 

The silver haired witch let out a bored sign and threw his head back with a dramatic groan. His favorite part of owning the Crow’s Nest was getting to meet and interact with a wide variety of people and creatures from all walks of life. Witches, ghouls, kitsune, centaurs, fairies, you name it he has had the opportunity to meet at least one. 

When he first opened the Crow’s Nest everyone had called him mad. Suga had graduated top of his class in potions and quickly rose through the ranks, becoming the second youngest potions master to exist (3 months behind Oikawa. Which is best friend  _ never _ let him forget). Everyone told him that he was wasting his potential, squandering his gift, but Suga didn’t see it that way. 

The café was also an apothecary so he was still making potions, but instead of sitting in front of a cauldron all hours of the day, he got to spend half of his time with his customers. Yes, Suga was a brilliant potions master, but he also adored people. The idea of being locked away all day seemed more like a nightmare than a dream. 

There were times where Oikawa wouldn’t leave his lab for days, surviving solely because Iwaizumi would stomp down into the basement and force feed him. Some of the potions he was working on were so intense that if he miscalculated adding in an ingredient by even a second then it was all ruined. Suga just didn’t have the patience for that. 

He enjoyed potions because he could make things that helped people, like sleeping tonics or fertility elixirs, but he could also just throw a bunch of stuff into a pot and wait to see what the result was. Poor Kageyama was often his guinea pig; last month he had turned the young witch’s hair neon green for 3 days. The time before that Kageyama couldn’t eat anything sweet or he grew a beak, but that only lasted for 12 hours thankfully. 

In school Suga had stumbled upon a potion that uh... _ assisted _ in helping um  _ enhancing _ certain  _ senses _ during... _ activities _ . He had forced Oikawa to drink it at the time and the brunette came back asking for a lifetime supply after spending the weekend with Iwaizumi. 

After some guidance from his potions professor he tweaked the recipe, patented it, and now it was commonly sold in stores of... _ that  _ nature. The royalties he earned allowed him to live comfortably while working at the café, and he didn’t have to worry about much. That’s why he wasn’t necessarily concerned about the lack of customers because he wasn’t bringing in any revenue; he was just lonely. 

The witch wandered into the backroom and started sifting through the boxes of supplies he had yet to unpack from yesterday’s shipment. He was halfway through organizing his dried salamander tails by color when he heard the light tinkling of the bell secured to the front door. 

_ A customer ! _

Suga flew out of the backroom and situated himself behind the bar. 

“Hello! Welcome to-” The bright smile plastered to his face fell when his eyes landed on the man standing in front of him. 

He was taller than Suga, broad chested, dark haired, and tanned skin. Objectively speaking he was very handsome, and typically Suga would waste no time and immediately start flirting, but it took the witch all of 2 seconds to notice a very important detail about him.

The man had 0 magical aura, not even a whiff of magic, and he had no features to suggest he was some kind of magical creature, which led Suga to the only plausible answer. He was a regular, boring, normal human. 

They stared at each other for a few moments, silence and tension thick in the air. Suga’s hand fell to his hip where his wand was secured. He wrapped his fingers around the worn ash handle. The man just stared at the witch with a startled expression, much like how a fawn looked at a wolf.

“I-uh...This was a laundromat...a-and then I touched this drawing o-on the ground...and now there are candles floating and owls…” The human didn’t move a muscle; he was tense. 

Suga’s mind was racing. There were a few ways he could approach the situation. Clearly, the man had wandered in by accident, so he wasn’t some kind of witch hunter or beast killer. There weren’t any traces of curses or malice in his aura, just fear and bewilderment, so he hadn’t been sent as a threat or weapon. 

The simplest answer would be to charm him to sleep, give him an amnesia tonic, and transport him back into the human world. That is what almost any witch would do. Their world didn’t mix well with the human world, and throughout history they were brutally reminded that fear of the unknown would always triumph over any attempts at civility. It just wasn’t worth the risk. 

But something stirred in Suga that kept him from pulling his ash and pegasus feather wand from its holster on his hip. 

Today had been a dreadfully boring Tuesday, and all day he had been begging the universe for something interesting to happen. Here was excitement all wrapped up in a 175cm package of tanned and handsome hunk. Who was he to return a gift from the universe herself?

“This is a witch’s café. The sigil you touched outside is a magical puzzle. It’s  _ supposed _ to keep normal humans out, but it seems like I need to go and make a few touch ups.” The man’s eyes went wide at the statement.

“W-witch café? No I must have hit my head or or maybe I have a fever and this is all some fantasy my sick brain conjured up. There is no such thing as magic!” 

The edges of Suga’s mouth quirked up into a smirk, and fear flickered in the man’s eyes. The witch pulled his wand out in one smooth motion, and with two quick flicks of his wrist and a few whispered words he activated a few of the cleaning charms laid into the woodwork of the café. Several brooms shuffled out of their closets and began to sweep the floors, feather dusters began to dance over books on the shelves, and rags wiped themselves along the large bay windows at the front of the building. 

The man jumped into the air, letting out a shriek as one of the brooms bumped into him and pushed him out of its way. Suga couldn’t help but snicker. He felt a teensy bit bad when he saw the wide fearful look in his eyes, and the witch put his wand in his opposite hand and repeated his previous motions. All the cleaning supplies made their way back to their homes, and the café was still once more. 

“No such thing as magic huh?” The man whipped his head to look at Suga, and the witch had to lift a hand to try and hide his giggles. 

For a few moments they said nothing. Now everything hinged on how the human reacted. The most likely response was he would freak out, scream, and threaten Suga. Then the witch would charm him and dump him on the street corner, change the sigil outside, and carry on his merry way. 

But what the witch was really hoping for was a more tepid response. Call him reckless, but he wanted to get to know the human better. All his life he had been raised in a noble witch house, and rarely did he have the opportunity to venture out into the non-magical world. He had been taught to fear them and that the only place he could be safe was in the shadows, but Suga had always believed that that train of thought was outdated. 

There was no way every normal human was evil. How could witches expect acceptance if they weren’t willing to give it themselves? They claimed the other side was dangerous and should never be approached because of the way they treated witches, but then turned around and acted the same way towards humans. The hypocrisy was asstounding. 

He had always been curious about the normal human world. The magic world was steeped in tradition, and innovation was slow moving and often frowned upon. But things were always evolving and changing on the other side, and most aspects of the human world fascinated Suga. 

Kageyama was half witch. His parents were one of the few who dared to go against the norm, and married despite a lot of push back from both sides. Sadly, the young witch had faced a lot of discrimination because of his mixed blood, but Suga found his unique point of view fascinating. Kageyama was well acquainted with both the magical and non-magical world, and that was a rare perspective to have. 

It was because of the young witch that Suga was able to have human appliances in the café. Kageyama had spent weeks teaching his boss the intricacies of the machines and how to operate them. It was a steep learning curve, but now Suga could use them just as easily as he could a cauldron or a broom. 

Since he had been hired, Kageyama had taken the time to teach Suga a bit about the human world, and even brought in things for Suga to play with or keep. For his birthday last year the young witch had gifted him a Tamagotchi, and now a pivotal part of his day was caring for the tiny pixel sheep creature. 

But the small glimpses he got weren’t nearly enough. The list of questions he had was endless and Suga yearned for answers. 

“Y-you’re a witch?” The man finally spoke again, and Suga nodded his head enthusiastically in response to his question. 

“Yup and I own this café. You can call me Suga.” This was good right? There was no screaming or threats of burning and drowning. Could this be marked down as a positive response?

Suga didn’t realize how badly he wanted a positive response until this very moment, when he felt his heart hammering in his chest and he silently pleaded with the universe. 

“Suga? That's a pretty normal name for a witch.” A little bit of the tension in the man’s shoulders bled out, and he took a tentative step forward. Suga did his best to tamper down his excitement, and tried to look cool, calm, and collected while he propped an arm up on the bar and rested his chin in his hand. 

“What did you expect? Morticia? Onyxia? Corvus? Or were you thinking of something more along the lines of tongues and less Japanese?” A small smile quirked at the edge of the man’s lips and Suga couldn’t help but tally that as a win.

“I- actually I don’t know how to say anything without looking stupid.” The man came up and perched himself on one of the barstools. Suga felt like he was floating. 

“Well what’s your name Mr. Human? Is it something dreadfully boring? Like Tarou or Ichirou?” The mystery man let out a soft chuckle and gave Suga a smile so warm that the witch felt a tingle in the tips of his toes and it crawled up his spine. 

“Daichi Sawamura. Nothing too exotic but I hope it isn’t dreadful.” The name tumbled around in Suga’s head until it was worn and smooth like the quartz charm hanging around his neck. He couldn’t help but feel like the name would also bring him good luck. 

“It isn’t the most exciting but it will do. So Daichi, did you come into my café just to loiter or are you going to order something?” Daichi’s eyes widened a bit and then darted around to try and find some sort of menu board; there wasn’t one. 

“I can make almost anything you’d find in the human world, plus an assortment of magical varieties.”

“I-I’ll just take a cappuccino thank you.” Suga let out a disgruntled huff. He had been hoping Daichi would let him make something special, not something you could pick up at any coffee shop down the street. 

“You walk into the only magical coffee shop in all of Tokyo and you order a cappuccino?” He sasses, but nonetheless the witch got to work behind one of the stainless steel appliances and in five minutes flat he had a warm mug of frothed milk in coffee sitting in front of Daichi. He did take care to put it in an enchanted mug, and didn’t miss the way the human’s eyes widened when he lifted his lips to take a sip and saw the delicate painting of a Chinese dragon spin around the circumference, lazily drifting through the clouds. 

“So magic is real?” Daichi asked, staring down into the warmed liquid. 

Suga felt excitement bubble in his chest. He had never been exposed to someone who was completely ignorant to magic and the magical world. All his life he had gone to schools for other witches like himself, everyone in his family was a witch, and all of his friends and acquaintances were either witches or magical beings. The first time he had met a non-magical human was when Kageyama’s mother visited the shop after Suga had first hired her son. 

He realized that this was a golden opportunity to have all of his questions about the human world answered without fear or judgement.

“Magic is very real. Would you like me to tell you about it?” Daichi sat with a pensive expression for a moment before looking up from his mug to Suga’s face. His expression was unreadable, but he must have found what he was searching for in the witch’s hopeful gaze because a smile crept across his face and he gave a nod. 

The pair sat in the quiet café for hours, Daichi ardently listening to Suga prattle on and on about magic schools, wands, his abilities as a potions master, the diversity of races of magical beings, life as a witch, and so on. Occasionally, Daichi would interrupt to ask a question and a few times he asked Suga for a demonstration of his magic. 

The witch showed him a bottle of bird song and the sweet melody of a bluebird filled the air for a few precious seconds. Daichi gasped when Suga roused the fire elemental that slumbered in the hearth to ask him if he would rather have cedar or pine for dinner tomorrow. Currently, the human sat at the bar again, rubbing the smooth scale of an Icelandic water dragon between his fingers. 

“You’re old student sent you this?” The scale was about the size of a saucer and was light periwinkle blue in color. 

“He was my old employee but not my student. I offered to take him as an apprentice, he’s a brilliant apothecary, but he decided to go gallivanting across the globe with his vampire boyfriend instead.” Suga was proud of Kageyama for taking Hinata’s offer and going on the adventure of a lifetime. They sent him letters, often with small trinkets and souvenirs from the places they had been. Kageyama didn’t know when he would be back, but Suga had told the younger witch that his offer of apprenticeship would never expire. 

“Oh yea vampires are real….and your bestfriend is married to a werewolf?” Suga was honestly shocked at how well Daichi was handling the overload of information. Over the past few hours Suga inundated the human with knowledge about the magical world, and he had surprisingly been able to wrap his head around most of the things told to him. 

“Yea, Iwaizumi is really nice though. Okay he is kind of grumpy, but nothing like the feral crazed monsters you see in movies in stuff. All that stuff is usually bullshit and fabricated with fears and lies.” 

The clock behind Sugawara’s head chimed and the old gadget groaned and lethargically opened its eyes.

“It is 5:00pm Mr. Sugawara.” It mumbled in a thick British accent. Its name was Henry and he was one of the bigger gifts from Kageyama and Hinata during their travels. Apparently, they had found the old clock at a magical antique shop and thought that he would fit perfectly into the relaxed atmosphere of the Crow’s Nest. Suga had asked Henry to alert him at 5:00pm every night so he could close up the café. 

Now that Kageyama was gone he couldn’t continue to keep the café open into the long hours of the night anymore, but hopefully that would soon change. He had an interview with a bright young witch later this week and he had a good feeling that she would be a perfect fit.

“Oh god it’s 5:00pm already! I’ve been here for like 4 hours.” Daichi pulled his phone out of his pocket but the device just blinked at him uselessly. Magic and electricity had never worked well together, and the café was a dead zone for cell phones. The human stood up off his stool and began to collect his things. 

Suga felt anxiety stir in the pit of his stomach. The voices of his family came creeping back into his mind. They told him that he couldn’t allow Daichi to leave with his memories intact, that Suga needed to protect himself from the human. Their time together had been lovely, but still Suga found himself wondering if something more sinister was lurking behind the easy going smile that Daichi wore so effortlessly. 

In a moment of panic he grabbed Daichi’s wrist before he could walk out of arm's reach. A questioning look washed over his face. 

“I...uh you can’t...you’re not going to tell anyone about this place right? About me...I...witches get hurt by humans and you seem nice but…” Suga didn’t like the shape of the words leaving his mouth. They felt sharp and rough, nothing like the silky smooth feeling of their conversations earlier. It was so easy to talk to Daichi, to open up and share his passions. Sitting here and asking Daichi not to betray him felt  _ wrong _ . Like an oxymoron the words put together just didn’t make sense. 

A warm hand clasped over his own. 

“I would never Suga. Your secret is safe with me.” His voice was saturated with sincerity, and Suga instantly felt guilty for even entertaining the idea that Daichi would do something to harm him. They had only met a few hours ago but something stirred inside the witch’s chest with Daichi’s promise, and he knew that there was nothing but truth in the man’s statement. 

“I want to give you something. Wait right here.” Suga let go of Daichi’s wrist and tried to ignore the chill that crept into his fingers once the contact was broken. He darted into the back room, sifting through boxes and piles of things he had collected over the years but never organized, until finally he triumphantly pulled out what he had been looking for. He came back to the front of the café to find Daichi still standing right where he had left him. 

“Here take these.” In his hands Suga held a simple leather bound notebook, a quill, and a smooth piece of malachite attached to a simple golden chain. 

“The notebook and quill are both charmed so if you write my name at the top of the page then anything you write below it will be transcribed to my own notebook. Phones aren’t common in the magic world so we mainly use things like this or owls to communicate, but I have a feeling you wouldn’t appreciate an owl pecking on your windows.” Suga knew it was a bit presumptuous to assume that Daichi would want to continue to talk with him after he left. They were still strangers, and just because they carried on a conversation today didn’t mean anything.

Daichi picked up the quill and studied it closely. 

“You guys really write with these things? It’s not just something in movies? Why not just use a pen?” Dark brown eyes glittered with amusement as they looked up at Suga. The witch couldn’t stop the peels of laughter from bubbling out of his throat. Whenever he felt anxious about their interactions, Daichi never failed to do or say just the right thing, and Suga always suddenly found himself at peace once again. 

“And this?” Daichi held up the necklace, the green crystal swung gently in the air. Suga felt a soft blush creep across his cheeks. 

“That’s malachite. It’s a guardian stone of protection and I put a few good luck charms on it. Nothing too crazy but it’ll help with the small stuff like making the train on time or not tripping on the sidewalk. If it’s got a rich green color like it does now, then you know you’re in a place with a good aura, but if it ever starts to turn black, then you’re in a place with a lot of negative energy and you should leave.”

It really was a simple protection trinket. Suga had a whole box of similar necklaces in the back that he sold to his customers regularly. Maybe he put a few stronger charms on the one he gave Daichi, and maybe the stone changing color was not very common and was actually semiprecious. Maybe Suga felt something deep inside him wake up when Daichi stumbled into the shop, and maybe he had decided that the human standing in front of him was more precious than any gemstone in his collection. 

The world was full of a lot of maybes, and Suga wasn’t one to dwell on them.

Daichi pulled the necklace over his head and tucked the pendant underneath his shirt. Suga would have been lying if he said he didn’t feel relief knowing that Daichi had at least something small to help him fight off the uncertainties of the world. 

He would never be able to fathom how normal humans were able to just wander the earth and put their blind faith into the universe, hoping that the winds and tides were always in their favor. But maybe ignorance was bliss, and when you walked around your entire life with a blindfold on you never learned to fear the darkness.

“Thank you Suga. For the charm, the book, for everything today.” 

It was all Suga could do to reply with a soft “ _ Your welcome _ ” as he watched Daichi leave from behind the counter. 

Once he was alone again Suga felt something wash over him. It was sweet with just a hint of bitterness beneath the surface. A small pang of loneliness as the stillness of the room settled around him, and he looked at the counter in front of him and found that he had already labeled the seat as  _ Daichi’s _ .

Their lives had only intertwined for a brief instance, and yet Suga couldn’t help but feel the tilt as his world shifted to center itself around something entirely new. He knew that this was the start; of what exactly he wasn’t sure, but today, this moment, these memories; they were important. 

So while the silence felt suffocating, Suga knew it was only temporary. The sisters of fate had tied their strings, and there was no unravelling destiny. 

He reached underneath the counter and pulled out a worn notebook that was dark blue in color with golden vines that flourished and blossomed with the seasons sprawled across the cover.

Butterflies beat ferociously against his ribcage as he opened the front page to already find the page marred by a tidy black script. The name at the top was new but oh so familiar, and would only grow more sweeter over time. 

_ “Can I come back tomorrow?” _

There was still so much that Suga wanted to share, and so much he wanted to learn.

But he had time. They had time. And they could find all the answers together. 

**Author's Note:**

> As always thank you so much for reading!
> 
> Follow me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/a_very_smolfrog) for updates on fics, haikyuu brain rot, and other shenanigans.


End file.
